


Picture Perfect Contradiction

by RuffledCrow



Series: One Shots [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Breakups, Emotional Hurt, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-06-26 15:09:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19770799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RuffledCrow/pseuds/RuffledCrow
Summary: Lance simple, tepid. Keith is complex, blazing.It’s all a Picture Perfect Contradiction.





	Picture Perfect Contradiction

Lance wonders if he’ll ever get over it.

Keith, Keith,  _ Keith.  _ Kieth and  _ Shiro,  _ Keith without  _ Lance,  _ that’s reality.

That’s  _ Lance’s  _ reality. 

Killing his loneliness with strangers is something he’s accustomed to, though. It’s easy, even more so now, because Lance can just pick up and leave afterwards. No consequences, other then a deep kind of ache in his heart that he knows he can’t satisfy. That  _ Keith  _ can’t satisfy, because Keith is happy with  _ Shiro,  _ and that’s how it’s going to work out for the rest of time.

He’s looking in through a mirror, he thinks.

Keith smiles at Shiro, the sterile lights of the Castleship somehow highlighting his face prettily. Shiro smiles back, the arm draped around Keith’s shoulders squeezing gently. Lance looks down at the floor, counting dust specs. Needles push underneath his skin, and there’s a pressure behind his eyes he doesn’t feel like confronting.

Because there’s billions of people back on a planet he might never see again, and here he is, all broken up over one angry, taken paladin of Voltron.

“Lance, you okay?” Shiro asks, snapping Lance out of his thoughts. 

Lance fights back the urge to laugh, and deadpan a  _ no.  _

“Yeah.”

“Really buddy? You look kinda down,” Shiro prys, tilting his head sympathetically. Lance wants to scream, and Keith raises an eyebrow on him.

“Yeah. I’m just tired,”  _ of watching you two.  _

“You sure?”  _ Keith.  _ Lance finally meets violet and eyes, and plasters on the best smile he can. Galaxies are reflecting in those violet orbs, and he needs to ignore it. Hey 

“Yep.” He says, standing up and stretching. He knows they’re not buying it, which is all the more reason to get out of here.

Because if he has to sell his own damn  _ happiness  _ to these people for another second, he’s going to  _ snap. _

-

“No, Shiro! You can’t  _ do  _ this to me!”

Keith’s been yelling for a good two hours, and Lance feels like his nerves have been ripped out of his skin. He doesn’t know if he should be  _ mad  _ that he has to listen to it, but he’s finding that he doesn’t feel very guilty about it.

Probably because, “Keith, I can’t  _ do  _ this anymore! It’s hurting the  _ team! _ ”

And Lance knows what that means.

He hears something clatter in the next room over, and a door sliding shut. Loud, stomping footsteps echo throughout the hall, slowly fading. 

Because  _ of course  _ Keith is going to go train his heartbreak away.

Lance is too familiar with this, and he knows that he should feel worse about it.

But his legs are moving of their own accord, heading to the training deck.

Keith is ripping through the training dummies with a kind of passion Lance doesn’t usually see, and he leans against the wall. He guesses he’s waiting for the moment when Keith will notice him.

_ He’s always waiting for Keith to notice him. _

“What do you want, Lance?” Keith eventually pants after shutting the simulation off, though there’s no real heat behind it. Lance shrugs, though Keith isn’t looking at him, and Keith sighs. He turns to look at Lance, face flushed and hair hanging in loose strands out of his ponytail. 

He looks like whispers into pillows and late nights. Lance wants to run his fingers through Keith’s hair.

“I heard your argument,”

Keith tenses, eyes narrowing. Lance keeps his expression neutral. 

“He broke up with me. That wasn’t an argument.” Keith gathers the hair that had fallen out of his ponytail back up, tying it back messily. Keith cocks his eyebrow at Lance, picking his Bayard back up from the bench. Lance shrugs.

“Dude, you’re gonna hurt yourself like this,”  _ Poker face, _ Lance reminds himself. 

“That’s none of your concern.” Keith walks over to the control panel, intending to restart the simulation manually. Lance grabs his wrist, finally letting his eyebrows draw together. Keith looks up at him, perfect lips twisted into a pout.

“Keith, go to  _ bed.”  _

Their faces are inches apart, breath mingling. Heat erupts over Lance’s skin, but he refuses to move away first. He’s not letting Keith hurt himself again.

“ _ Make me.” _

That’s all it takes, and chapped, warm lips are being pressed together. Lance doesn’t want to know who looks more shocked.

“Lance…” Keith’s nails are digging into Lance’s forearms, and his mouth is hanging open. It shouldn’t make Lance slip further into his head then he already is, but regardless. 

“Go.  _ Now.”  _

“But—“

“Now,  _ Keith! _ ”

Because Lance’s eyes are dangerously wet, and Keith looks about the same. They can’t have this right now. 

_ They can’t ever have this. _

Because Keith is fire and ice, a picture perfect contradiction, and Lance is ash and lukewarm water. Because tears make the team  _ weaker,  _ and  _ finally,  _ Lance understands where Shiro was coming from.

_ Because they can’t extinguish Keith without suffocating themselves. _

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! If you liked this, go check out my tumblr, @ruffledcrow. Kudos and comments are highly appreciated <3 if you like this and want a sequel (or something like that) request it on my tumblr, or in a comment.


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